Fabrication and Characterization of Boron Doped Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Nanofibers Tuncay Tunc ¸, 1 _ Ibrahim Uslu 2 1 Department of Science, Faculty of Education, Aksaray University, Aksaray 68100, Turkey 2 Department of Chemistry, Chemistry Education Department, Gazi University, Ankara 06900, Turkey Boron doped and undoped poly(vinyl) alcohol/zirco- nium-yttrium acetate (PVA/Zr-Y) nanofibers were pre- pared by electrospinning using PVA as a precursor. The effect of boron doping was investigated in terms of solution properties, morphological changes and thermal properties. The effect of boron doping on cal- cined yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) fibers was eval- uated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelec- tron spectroscopy analysis. XRD analysis revealed varying amounts of monoclinic and tetragonal zirconia present in the undoped fibers calcined at 8008C. The average crystallite sizes of the undoped YSZ were increased from 9.28 to 22.79 nm with calcining temper- ature increasing from 250 to 8008C. The crystallite size was enhanced with boron doping. The systematic evo- lution of morphological features in the spun and the processed fibers were employed by scanning electron microscopy. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 00:000–000, 2012. ª 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers INTRODUCTION Polymer-based nanocomposites in the form of nano- powders, nanospheres, nanofibers, nanowires have gained much interest due to their ability to combine the advan- tages of both polymers and filler components. The nano- composite form of polymers has attracted special attention in science and technology [1–5]. Nanostructure ceramic oxides, especially zirconium ox- ide or zirconia (ZrO 2 ) gained importance due to complex structural aspects that can be achieved on a relatively small scale. Ceramic materials based on zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ), also referred to as zirconia because their excellent combi- nation of electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties are of widespread application [6] including transparent optical devices and electrochemical capacitor electrodes [7], oxy- gen sensors [8], fuel cells [9], catalysts [10], and advanced ceramics [11]. Pure ZrO 2 exists in three polymorphs at low pressure (monoclinic, tetragonal, and cubic) and in an orthorhom- bic form at high pressure. Among them tetragonal (1175– 23708C) and cubic (2370–26808C) phases are metastable forms but monoclinic phase is the stable form at room temperature [12]. The high temperature forms cannot be retained at room temperature. It has been found that the high temperature forms can partially or fully stabilized at room temperature by the addition of small amount of oxides [13]. There are many materials such as magnesium, cerium, chromium, yttrium, and calcium oxides used as stabilizers for zirco- nia [14]. Yttria (Y 2 O 3 ) stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is one of the most commonly used ceramic material with high ionic conductivity, thermal stability and excellent mechanical properties. Also, the introduction of yttrium produces de- fective oxides with oxygen vacancies in the crystal struc- ture and the performance of devices based on stabilized zirconium oxide depends on the ability of these oxides to transport oxygen ions for example oxygen sensor in com- bustion engines, for controlling/optimizing fuel consump- tion, oxygen sensors in the steel industry, for monitoring oxygen content in molten steels during steel production, high temperature solid electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) devices. Electrospinning is a simple and versatile fabrication technique to produce nano and microfibrous materials. Recent advances in electrospinning have brought this al- ready well established method back into focus of investi- gation as valuable method to produce ceramic nanofibers of various compositions through the use of sol-gels. Typi- cal procedure for preparing nanofibers consists of three major steps: (i) preparation of an inorganic sol containing a matrix polymer together with a polymer precursor, (ii) electrospinning of the solution in a well controlled envi- ronment at room temperature, (iii) calcination, sintering or chemical conversion of the precursor into the desired ceramic at elevated temperature, with the removal of or- ganic components from the precursor fibers [15]. Recent study has shown that YSZ can be successfully electrospun from a sol-gel precursor and that annealing at 15008C for Correspondence to: Tuncay Tunc ¸; e-mail: tctunc@gmail.com DOI 10.1002/pen.23345 Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). V V C 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE—-2012